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June 6 Patriotic Millionaires Press Conference

On June 6, 2011 the Patriotic Millionaires held a press conference to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Bush tax cuts and encourage Congress to put millionaire tax rates on the table in the budget debates.

“I pay a lesser percentage of my income now than I have paid at any time in the past. If our country is really broke, we can’t afford to give tax cuts to people like me.” - Paul Egerman, Founder of Escription and Patriotic Millionaire

“It is self-defeating to pursue these tax policies, and it is inconsistent with our values as Americans. We need to throw out the Bush tax cuts in a hurry and begin the process of restoring some fiscal sanity to the country’s budget.” - Dennis Mehiel, Chairman of U.S. Corrugated and Patriotic Millionaire

“I am in favor of higher tax rates for those of us who can afford that. I am also in favor of lower tax rates for the middle class. I think this whole idea of supply side trickle down economics has clearly failed… My business needs a strong middle class. My business is dependent upon employment increasing and on the housing market.” - Frank Patitucci, CEO and Chairman, NuCompass Mobility Services Inc. and Patriotic Millionaire

“It really irks me, as an American, that people who make money by trading in markets pay significantly less taxes than those people who actually go out and work for it. I want to give back to this country and give everybody else the same opportunities I had.” - Dal Lamagna, Co-Managing Partner IceStone and Patriotic Millionaire

“There are some in Congress who believe that the best way to deal with the struggling economy right now is to extend the tax cuts and see if they work the second time around. They didn’t work the first time, and they aren’t going to work the second time. If they are extended, they will cost Americans $5.5 trillion dollars, a huge blow to the economy. We need to do something different or we are going to end up where Paul Ryan wants to take us; with a country that doesn’t have a Medicare system, that has a shadow of a Medicaid system and where even wealthy people won’t be doing as well as they were during the good ‘ol days of Bill Clinton.” -Robert McIntyre, Director of Citizens for Tax Justice, author of “The Bush Tax Cuts After Ten Years”